Really incredible stuff by Whitney. Was left for dead in '97 by the Sharks (I think he's the only remaining player from the Sharks inaugural season), couldn't latch on the following year in Edmonton, only to wash up the following year with Florida. It's pretty amazing what he's done in terms of production on the wrong side of age 30, more than half of his 1000 points during that period.

Streaks House wrote:Really incredible stuff by Whitney. Was left for dead in '97 by the Sharks (I think he's the only remaining player from the Sharks inaugural season), couldn't latch on the following year in Edmonton, only to wash up the following year with Florida. It's pretty amazing what he's done in terms of production on the wrong side of age 30, more than half of his 1000 points during that period.

correct. He's the only player left from that inaugural team.

The next closest player who was still playing any level of professional hockey was Ed Courtenay. He's been out of the NHL since 91-92 but was still playing in either 2009 or 2010 in England.

When I saw that he hit 1,000 points, I thought it was an April Fools joke. The guy fly's totally under the radar, and I never thought of him as an 1,000 point guy. Congrats to him though, well deserved.

MRandall25 wrote:Kerry Collins is #10 in passing yards in NFL history. Do you think he'll get into the Hall?

In both cases, I'd say it's more the longevity of their careers rather than them being that much better than the competition.

As pointed out earlier, he scored more than half of those points after the age of 30.

So longevity of a person's career, while putting up good numbers (as pointed out before, numbers achieved by only 78 others) counts for nothing?

Would it count for Kerry Collins? Yes or no?

The Hall is for the greats. Most of it is hype, best the rest is play. Whitney, while he has numbers, doesn't have the hype and the stardom these others guys have. Same with Kerry Collins. Look at the names surrounding him. Pretty much all of them are in the HOF. Doesn't mean Collins will be.

I honestly have no idea what they base their selections on, but Ray Whitney just screams "NHL's Kerry Collins" to me. Never really had the big numbers and recognition over the seasons, compared to other players in the Hall. Just played long enough to amass a career number close to those guys.

Staggy wrote:Jason Arnott's getting pretty close to 1,000 points as well and I doubt anyone would call him a Hall of Famer.

Why not?

I, personally, would say the same reasons I said Whitney shouldn't. He never put up the huge numbers and never really had the hype other guys in the Hall had.

If anything, I would just say Whitney and Arnott are guys who were great role players, but they were never the stars on their teams, or never got the recognition as being "stars" in the league (I know that term is subjective, but when you discuss the Top X players from any year, I don't think either of them come in the Top 20 or 30)

Staggy wrote:Jason Arnott's getting pretty close to 1,000 points as well and I doubt anyone would call him a Hall of Famer.

Why not?

I, personally, would say the same reasons I said Whitney shouldn't. He never put up the huge numbers and never really had the hype other guys in the Hall had.

If anything, I would just say Whitney and Arnott are guys who were great role players, but they were never the stars on their teams, or never got the recognition as being "stars" in the league (I know that term is subjective, but when you discuss the Top X players from any year, I don't think either of them come in the Top 20 or 30)

At least, that's how I see them.

I don't know man, I've always considered Arnott a high level player. He has had a long successful career and deserve recognition IMO.

Staggy wrote:Jason Arnott's getting pretty close to 1,000 points as well and I doubt anyone would call him a Hall of Famer.

Why not?

I, personally, would say the same reasons I said Whitney shouldn't. He never put up the huge numbers and never really had the hype other guys in the Hall had.

If anything, I would just say Whitney and Arnott are guys who were great role players, but they were never the stars on their teams, or never got the recognition as being "stars" in the league (I know that term is subjective, but when you discuss the Top X players from any year, I don't think either of them come in the Top 20 or 30)

At least, that's how I see them.

I don't know man, I've always considered Arnott a high level player. He has had a long successful career and deserve recognition IMO.

I don't disagree that he plays at a high level, it's just that he plays largely under the radar.

He's had a great career but I don't think everyone that had a great career should be in the Hall. In 19 seasons, he's never been a point per game player. He's a consistent 55-65 point player, topping out at 76. In my opinion that's just not HHoF worthy.